Fine Art Prints

Fine Art Prints

Bob travels a great deal to photograph the beauty of the natural world. After each major photographic expedition Bob sorts through thousands of images and selects only a small number of them to offer as fine-art prints.

Post-processing of digital captures, the same processes performed in a darkroom for film captures, is done on a high end Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop®. Each image is refined, staying true to the original scene while correcting the color balance, managing tonal ranges, and refining with subtle dodging and burning to create a more expressive image.

The images you see displayed in these galleries have been captured with a variety of film and digital cameras. I currently shoot with digital cameras exclusively. You may purchase top-quality prints from all the images you find on this site. Maximum size varies from one image to the next. Many factors dictate the maximum size that I feel comfortable printing any given image, such as the film/digital format and conditions at the time of capture. I will only print images at sizes that meet my high expectations for quality and detail throughout. Each print is printed personally at my digital darkroom. All prints are created on Epson printers and printed on Epson papers. Each print is delivered to you signed in the lower right corner, just off the image. All prints are from an open edition.

Gallery-wrap canvas prints offer a clean and intimate presentation that focuses on the image itself without matting or glare from glass. The image is copied and wrapped around the backing/mounting so the print is complete without a frame. Compared to matted prints, the canvas prints look more like paintings, but preserve the rich colors, tonal depth, and fine details of a traditional photograph. For a given wall space or visual weight you should generally choose the next size larger for a canvas print than you would for a matted print. Since the canvas print is ready to hang, the total size and cost is usually about the same, but you get a larger image with the canvas print.

Before printing, extra image data for the gallery-wrap border is generated by copying and mirroring in Photoshop®, to preserve the exact original composition. After the canvas print has dried thoroughly a protective coating is sprayed on it to bring out the depth and clarity of the image and allow the print to be cleaned with a damp cloth. The finished canvas prints are ready to hang, but those who prefer can add a frame.

How BIG to buy?

Print size matters enormously. This point is best exemplified through an example. The fascination that the Mona Lisa exerts upon us is in part, though not solely, due to its size. This portrait is very close to life size. In viewing the original we are not only taken by the expression of the Mona Lisa, we also find ourselves in front of someone who is our own size, or very close to it. It is like looking at a living person sitting in front of us.

Subjects printed much larger than nature take on a presence that they do not normally have because we are not accustomed to seeing them at that size. The large size magnifies each detail, compelling us look at length at a subject to which we may previously have given only a passing glance. The large print size allows us to discover the esthetic qualities of details too small to be seen without magnification.

Subjects printed much smaller than nature take on a precious appearance, because we can now hold in our hand, so to speak, something that is normally too large for us to hold. A miniature of a very large landscape allows us to visually grasp this entire landscape at once, while in nature we would have to turn our head right and left to see it all. Also, because small details are no longer visible, the miniature forces us to see the overall structure of the landscape, instead of getting lost in the study of individual details.

You can only display a few large prints in your home before you run out of wall space. However this does not negate my point about selecting print size on the basis of subject matter. If displaying larger prints is not convenient for practical reasons, consider varying print sizes in the sizes you are comfortable with.

Sizes given are the actual image size on its longest measurement— the paper size will be larger. After matting and framing the composition will be larger still. Prices are for the print alone, shipped rolled, via second-day FedEx. Shipping to non-US addresses will be via standard mail.

At this time I do not offer framing or matting because I feel the choice of materials and size is a matter of personal taste. Consult an experienced local framing shop to discuss framing, matting and glazing (glass) options. I highly recommend mats that are archival and either museum glass or non-glare glass of equivalent quality.

Larger prints—longer than 20"—and all canvas prints are available and can be special ordered. They will be printed for me by West Coast Imaging, a professional photography print lab in Oakhurst, California, since 1998.